Cognitive Therapy Basics

After yet another display of lining up toys or endlessly performing the same behavior over and over it’s not unusual for parents to wonder if their child may have not one but two disorders – autism and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
OCD is a neurological disorder that causes obsessive thoughts and behaviors and can greatly disrupt a person’s life. There are two main elements to OCD, thoughts or obsessions and compulsions or behaviors.
The obsessions are experienced as thoughts, images or impulses and can be persistent. Whereas compulsions are repetitive behaviors that the sufferer feels compelled to carry out whether they want to or not. The performance of the repetitive behaviors is usually done to reduce distress or to stop a particular event.
It is common for people with an autism spectrum disorder to also display repetitive behaviors and have repetitive thoughts, comparable to those who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is a condition that generally makes sufferers feel uncomfortable with their symptoms, and wish that they could get rid of them. On the other hand children with autism are usually unconcerned with their various obsessions or behaviors and may even see them as comforting, increasing the frequency during stressful situations as a calming mechanism.
There are two possible treatments for autism and OCD-like behaviors: behavioral therapy, and medication. Frequently, these two forms of therapy are prescribed together.
The most common kind of medication prescribed for treating OCD behaviors in autistic individuals are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). SSRIs are antidepressant medications that have also shown to be helpful in reducing OCD behaviors. However, they can come with some serious side effects including an increased risk of suicide. Parents’ whose children are on SSRIs should monitor behaviors closely and report anything out of the ordinary to a medical professional.
Behavioral therapy can be another way to reduce repetitive behaviors, however there is not one treatment that has been found to be consistently effective for all cases of autism. This is due to the fact that no two cases of autism are exactly the same.
Therefore, before a behavioral therapy is selected to deal with autism and OCD symptoms, an IQ test and/or functional cognitive level test will usually be administered. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) works well for lower functioning children or younger children, and Cognitive Behavioral therapy can show good results for higher functioning, more verbal children with autism.
To ensure best results it is often recommended that behavioral treatments and medication be combined. The medication is usually prescribed to help the child become more open to the behavioral therapy. Since behavioral therapy can be challenging – especially as most children don’t see their OCD behaviors as undesirable – medication can make the difference in encouraging children to be open to the suggested changes.
While autism and OCD can occur in the same individual, it is much more common for children with autism to simply display behaviors that are similar to those of OCD, but that are in fact a part of their autism symptoms and not a separate case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Nonetheless, it is believed that autism and OCD based repetitive thoughts and behaviors are quite similar in the early stages of development, but become dissimilar over time as they often serve different functions within the two disorders.
Dealing with autism and OCD at an early age should be prioritized to ensure that regular childhood and life experiences such as early education occurs more smoothly. The fewer obsessive-compulsive symptoms a child with autism has generally, the more positive their educational and life experiences will be.
If you believe your child is suffering from OCD contact your doctor to discuss diagnosis and treatment options.

Before we get to the main discussion, let’s see what a social anxiety disorder is. It is a social phobia. In more plain words, it refers to a mental state where people suffer the irrational fear of unsuccessfully facing some special social situations. The majority of the people suffer such disorder as they are afraid that they’ll do poor when judged/scrutinized by people in the society.

However, a cognitive therapy can be a really useful social anxiety disorder treatment. This article describes how such a therapy helps you recover from disorders that stemmed from social anxieties. For the recovery through a behavioral therapy, the following steps are followed.

Step 1 – Consider getting thorough diagnosis from a mental-health expert/professional. But before that, you must be able to research and diagnose the symptoms all by yourself… it least the primary stage. If your symptoms match with a social disorder, you should turn to the help of qualified professionals for getting the right social anxiety disorder treatment.

Step 2 – Make a long-term arrangement with a cognitive behavioral therapist, since you will need ongoing treatment sessions. For finding a dependable one, you can request your doctor for a reference.

Step 3 – Try and compose a solid, comprehensive plan to heal the disorder step by step.

Step 4 – Think out of the box. The cognitive therapy is all about reprogramming the mind for going through only positive modes. It aims at preparing the mind to positively handle itself along with the related social situations. In due course, this is supposed to establish an individual’s solid control over his or her fears.

Step 5 – Practice and execute coping statements properly. That is a surefire way for retraining the mind for repeating positive statements as your anxiety starts creeping in.

Step 6 – Get along with exposure therapy progressively. This is another effective component of behavioral therapy for altering your way of reaction to different kind of situations. The object of cognitive-behavioral therapies is to bring a change in your overall approach while reacting to special situations. Putting it simple, an exposure therapy basically exposes a person to unique situations causing anxiety. It also aims at providing you with a truly safe environment.

Step 7 – Take part actively in a group that is receiving cognitive therapies. In the majority of the cases cognitive social anxiety disorder therapy is executed by compiling the patients into small groups

Stick to that and take help from professionals.

 

Overview of Triage Therapeutic Approach

 

         The Triage Method of Emotional Therapy (TMET) is supported by clinical experiences during a 24-month pilot program titled, Operation Recovery. The method is influenced by empirical findings from recent neuroscientific research and considered an on-the-ground application of the Hakomi Method of Body/Centered Psychotherapy.

         In a pilot program titled Operation Recovery, TMET proved effective when applied in a contained, open-air garden/woodshop environment. While engaged in physical activities and social interactions, participants were able to:

        (a) develop the trust required for an effective therapeutic alliance

        (b) experience a sense of self-control by initiating their own therapeutic process

        (c) learn to self-regulate physical and psychological function through         education and experiential training

        (d) gain trust in their capacity to acknowledge and tolerate their own feelings,

             emotions and thoughts

        (e) learn to engage and control their own physical and mental defensive systems

             in real time.

 

      With survival as the genetic dictate, organic systems of the body regulate energy and effort in relation to efficiency and effectiveness. Affective Neuroscience, a book authored by Jaak Panksepp, describes how threats to survival, labeled traumatic experiences, activate survival mechanisms in the primitive brain, which increase affect, a pre-emotion neuroprocess, for the primary purpose of stimulating physical movement.

     As threats to survival increase, the Primitive Base Brain becomes the Supreme Command Center (SCC) and instinctually elevates the production of motivational affect to influence other neuro-centers. Greatly increased affect results in an overload for the Central Nervous System (CNS) and a decreased capacity in higher brain function – emotion, cognition, language, attention and memory.

     All three of these neuro-centers are systematically integrated during:

        (a) the integration of sensory input with motor output

        (b) the regulation of physiological arousal

        (c) the capacity to communicate experience in words.

     However, only the SCC has the capacity to selectively control the process. Its supreme control is dictated by genetic survival structures.

      Continuing SCC arousal with a decrease in CNS function – combined with limitations in memory and attention, produces a virtual experience of being lost in space and time. This produces the out of body experience during moments of trauma and may explain the Marine feeling like they are still in Iraq, when they are with family at home.

     Until the SCC is convinced the threat is over it will continue its potential to control with or without reminders or triggers of the original threat. Variations in reactions to trauma and in the persistence of control by the SCC are related to the particular structure of each individual’s genetic coding for survival – suggesting relationship to resiliency.

     Additional research published by Rauch/Van Der Kolk, Hull, and Lindauer supports Panksepp’s work on how threats of survival motivate increased affect in the SCC as a means of generating physical action, while decreasing the higher brain’s capacity to regulate affect – to slow or stop action in threat’s presence.

     These researchers have all pointed out that popular therapies, which seek to medicate or modulate the higher brain functions of emotion, cognition and language, may find their methods inefficient and/or ineffective in treating trauma. As Van Der Kolk points out, higher brain chemistry and emotions are activated in order to bring about action. They are not what “is” motivating the activation. In addition, experience in Triage suggests that some of the actions being motivated may be designed to hide and protect the motivator!

         The SCC is not easily convinced that threat is over. When missing the experience of a return to safety or through physical damage, the SCC appears to be mandated to continue generating affect, which stimulates the chaotic thoughts, intense emotions and irrelevant behavior of PTSD. The SCC is not designed to simply trust the CNS and higher brain functions to make decisions on issues of survival. It is designed to resist and distract any deviation from its dictate to survive. Only by the experience of knowing the threat is over will this system lower its guard and allow the other neuro-centers the opportunity to regulate peace of mind.

     Continuing symptoms are evidence that the SCC is actively sorting for safety and not finding it. During psychotherapy treatments where the focus of support was on SCC processes, a decrease in affective tones has been documented using Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG). Certain popular treatments may prove more than ineffective if studies were to find a rise in affect during symptom treatment.

     Van Der Kolk concludes, that effective trauma treatment needs to involve (a) creating a safe, controlled environment where trust and the therapeutic alliance can develop organically, (b) learning to tolerate feelings and sensations by increasing the capacity to mindfully observe and track one’s own inner experience, (c) learning to regulate one’s own affect and the resulting emotions, thoughts and actions, (d) learning to re-engage physical defenses and re-build collapsed or overwhelmed systems.

 

 

The Triage Method

       The Triage Method (TMET) is an on the ground adaptation of methods and principals of the Hakomi Method of Body/Centered Psychotherapy and neurologic system concepts supported by empirical findings of recent neuroscientific research. The Method has been refined over the last 15 years working with individuals exposed to mild to severe violence, who have lost trust and remain hyper vigilant to mental and physical invasion.

       During the last 24 months, working with Marines and their families the method did show very positive outcomes. A garden provided the safe environment to initiate therapeutic relationship in a non-clinical, non-diagnostic way. It provided a space where Marines and families could rest, turn their attention inward and notice their unique organic process.

         Triage principals honor the fact that living organisms were created to ensure selfish longevity and purpose. The best hope for both is that the organism’s design includes a systematic electrical/chemical system at its core – one, which can self-direct communication between all possible participants in its survival, from its simplest gene to its complex social environment. The supreme goal of this selfish system is to maintain an efficient and effective balance – of all things relevant to self-survival, within limits defined by a Window of Tolerance.

       The practice of Triage in the garden involves noticing any activity threatening to take a participant outside their Window-of-Tolerance. This means noticing any subtle thing that disrupts the participant’s present state of balance and theoretically becomes a threat to their survival. Once noticed, choices are made about what to do about the perceived threat.

       For example: In broad strokes, too long under water, not enough oxygen tips the balance and causes survival systems to ratchet down efficiency (stop thinking and emoting and swim like a fish to the surface), regain balance and survive. Here, noticing someone is drowning – we take action and throw out a preserver. We don’t shout to them the fact that they are drowning.

         Prolonged exposure to threat of immediate death and constant surveillance with sleep deprivation provides information that the Supreme Command Center (SCC) must take over and dictate the survival effort. Thinking stops. Emotions cease. Information from the SCC is standard operational procedure and the first line of motivation for muscle and body organs. Here, noticing someone is sleepless – we help them notice the process they may be using to block sleep. We don’t throw them a pillow and turn down the lights.

       As long as the affective signals of communication from the SCC continue to prevail other neuro-centers generating emotions, thoughts and ideas will struggle to compete, to regain their stature. This struggle heightens the potential for an individual to feel disordered and malfunctioned. The choice here is, do we join in the struggle or do we support the SCC until it can self-integrate into present real time?

       In a more specific example: An active duty Marine with two tours of Iraq returned to a church group for Marines struggling with PTSD and TBI. He hadn’t looked at me or said anything to me, the visitor, until he suddenly turned and started telling me his traumatic story of war. He persisted, deepening as he went. The church counselor attempted to interrupt by commenting, “Gosh, you haven’t told me any of this stuff before.” He never took his eyes off mine. Never blinked.

     When he was done I simply said, “Damn, I wish that hadn’t happened to you. Seems like you had a lot of responsibility” (the story was laced with gestures of responsibility and distrust for superiors). I used the word responsibility because it seemed to be a core theme in “Who” this Marine was.        In theory, to be responsible was a core process of his SCC. As we begin to explore the possibilities of the theory, our connection abruptly ended. He pulled back saying, “I had chores like everyone else when I was a kid.”

     That was it. He turned back to the group. To check, I asked if he wanted to continue. Without looking at me and with assurance he said, “No!” We had arrived at a Window of Tolerance, too close to a vulnerable operating system the base brain SCC utilized to define his World. Responsibleness defined him. It was a core filter he automatically used to efficiently regulate his World. He was using it before the war. He used it during the war. And, he was now using it to define how he carried the war experience. Responsibleness was both motivating his PTSD associated rage (They weren’t/aren’t responsible and I am) and limiting his resolve (It’s all mine to bear).

     At the end of the meeting, he again turned and said in a voice of authority, “I want to come visit you at the garden on Friday. I need to build a bed frame.” Two days later he visited the garden/woodshop and built a bed frame. We didn’t return to the earlier conversation about his combat experience. We stayed in the present moment. He let me assume and direct some of the responsibility for making the bed frame sturdy. I applied my idea of Gorilla Glue and dowels, while he sanded and stained.

     His agreeing to let me assume some responsibility may have been a test. However, it felt like a shift in his perception of threat, where he was assessing threat to Who he was with present time experience. In theory, his SCC experienced safety, turned down affect allowing trust to develop, when responsibleness was recognized, supported and given time to rest.

     The example demonstrates an aspect of the therapeutic process involved in the resolution of Operational Stress, PTSD and other general distractions from efficient and effective regulation of the life experience. The SCC, especially when activated for frequent and prolonged durations, remains hyper-vigilant and active dictating when and how other neuro-centers get to contribute.

     Intellectually, the Marine in the last example may or may not have understood what had been revealed, but somehow he deduced when it was time to stop and how to allow himself to reorient. Research from Damasio, Ledox, Panksepp, Porges, Llinas and Davidson has shown that the internal process he may have used is automatic and systematic. Its function is to stabilize the life-experience by maintaining a predictable environment within a Window of Tolerance.

     For this Marine, exploring the intimate structure of responsibility in his life-experience was unfamiliar and thus unpredictable territory, posing too much risk. Staying with what I had noticed about the motivating core structure was the quickest way to demonstrate predictability. It by-passed all the negotiating involved in the emotional and cognitive neurostructures.

     A Marine puffed-up with power cannot risk knowing or exposing a vulnerability his SCC is mandated to protect through puffing. John Wayne and General Patton are historic examples.

         Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Lab at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, recently published studies on how the brain codes for predictability as a vital resource and generates social interaction based on rewarding predictable experience. The more predictable life-experiences are, the less effort required to maintain the Window of Tolerance and the less risk to survival.

      Fortunately, as the intimate processes of the SCC, which frame the life-experience, become more familiar they become more predictable, making them the most efficient systems to engage for the reduction and resolution of stress and disorder. Triage encourages participants to become familiar with their own inner, neuroprocesses. Once core impulses are experienced as predictable they become tolerable and manageable. Talking, planning and medicating can be supportive to this process. However, The Triage Method guides participants to self-discover their own intimate core processes, which support self-directed integration of their life-experience, as a means of empowering self-discipline and control.

        A Marine who struggles to make sense of two extreme feeling states, the serene, calm feeling he has outside the wire in Iraq and the irrational, chaotic thoughts and emotions he has at home with his wife and children, may be experiencing distortions in space and time and the effects of his brain sorting for predictability. Outside the wire surprise and uncertainty are predictable and expected. At home nothing feels predictable. Over time a Marine and family can sort out who makes breakfast and when, and who will drive. They may even quickly reconnect intimacy, but the overriding question of who will live to return can’t be predicted. The impermanence of life affects predictability.

       That question looms as unanswerable, yet the answer is vital to calm the impulse to predict. Without the answer nothing is predictable in the family structure because all things depend on continuance. For civilians the question rarely impedes on their life-experience, rarely leads to hanging themselves out of hopelessness. PTSD and Operational Stress make it a real and threatening situation for Marines, as with the late Marine Sgt. Boyd “Chip” Wicks, 2004.

     The Triage Method offers the potential to overcome and decompress these systematic, base brain operational procedures. By directing attention to where, when and which system is activated and or overwhelmed in any particular moment participants begin the process of turning their attention inward. This is the mindfulness of Triage, noticing and tracking inner neuro-processes in action. This is the primary and most critical job for achieving self-directed self-discipline and self-regulation.

     Once operational procedures are noticed they become known and are the general framework for behavioral development and change. Without appreciation for the potential of systems – especially core mechanisms related to survival, a change in life-experience is inefficient and takes great effort.

     The result of inefficient effort is usually circular violence within these systems and throughout the individual’s family and social system. Response to this violence is often labeled denial, resistance, bone headedness and/or just Who they are, creating stigma for the individual and hazard for the culture and it’s ethos.

     In the previous example, the church counselor seemed to feel left out regarding information pertaining to the Marine’s traumatic war experience. Her not noticing the system motivating the experience represents violence. The interaction could have been experienced as threatening to the SCC if her desire to connect appeared self-focused. By not noticing the motivator in the war story, driven by emotions and thought, she was not truly supporting the Marine’s supreme dictate to stay within a Window-of-Tolerance.

     The expressions of the SCC, those systematic or instinctual base brain directives, can be noticed in physical structure as well as behavior. Core systems that hold the behavioral codes for survival appear to utilize those codes as blueprints to mobilize a body in support. Ron Kurtz and his associates at the Hakomi Institute have spent 30 years utilizing reference to eight generalized physical or character expressions they contend develop in relation to nurtured experiences.

 

       These postures illustrate the core neuro-blueprints expressing physical tendencies to Withdraw – Collapse – Rely on Self – Charm, Manipulate – Expand Power – Take on Burden – Distract by Doing and Up the Struggle.

       In developing The Triage Method, correlations have been researched showing relationships between Kurtz’s eight physical character expressions and behaviors described by Panksepp’s core neuromechanisms, Keirsey’s innate temperament types and Bowlby’s attachment styles.

       This is an area offering significant potential for understanding Marine behavior in relation to Marine ethos, the codes of war and expression of behavior associated with stress, especially PTSD. Behaviorist may have been duped by the self-fulfilling prophesy of the SCC. Based on the theory utilized in Triage, the parent/caregiver didn’t just reject the baby causing it to develop a tendency to withdraw. The baby came organized, at least in part, to reject the caregiver.

      Research coming from the field of Genetic Biology is clearly showing that at least 50% of human behavior is genetically directed. If we accept this data, then we must begin to consider the possibility those same genetic codes have influence on the physical structure expected to back up the behavior. A baby born with a frail, alien body may be predisposed to support its own SCC directives to withdraw and carefully regulate energy before any possibility to feel rejected. Genetic directive to express a power attitude, born into a frail body, would be ill matched to survive the generations.

       Triage treats these character types as physical expressions of neuro-blueprints organized by the same SCC codes that dictate behavior. While aspects of these characters appear to be evident in everyone and usually remain relatively fluid, they do deepen and become more pronounced in relation to increased stress load.

         Functionally, Marines can learn to utilize Hakomi’s eight character types to predict generalized behavior for themselves, their fellow Marines and their adversaries. An individual who has a tendency to stay withdrawn from the social environment usually has an underlying and continuous sense of feeling not welcome. They will also have a supportive body structure, one that is thin, unstructured and undefined – unnoticeable.

       An individual with a tendency to withdraw may become a Marine but leave duty disappointed in not getting what they were hoping for from Marine ethos. The tendency to withdraw or be responsible plays a vital role in the experience of trauma and expression of PTSD. The Marine expressing responsibleness had unique physical resemblance to the illustrated Take-on-Burden character.

    Triage maintains its potential when both physical and behavioral expressions are noticed at the point of initial contact. It builds trust and produces a great amount of efficiency. Trust and respect happens at a feeling level and it is allowed to deepen in an organic way without effort, reducing tension, stress and ultimately risk.

     Marines who learn to utilize The Triage Method have tremendous potential to mentor fellow Marines at home and during deployment – increasing Marine ethos, reducing Operational Stress and Risk, reducing dependence on medication and supporting intelligent career choices rather than automatic or emotional ones.

     It makes no sense that a Marine can return from Iraq, after a rocket slammed into his armored vehicle, killing three of his team members and burning him, has to spend five years struggling to make sense of and control the persistent impulse to kill/destroy himself and others. In a particular situation, who was in imminent danger was depending on his level of hopelessness and rage.

     The most difficult aspect of this Marines struggle was that because of his injuries, he had spent most of his post-traumatic days in therapy of one form or another. When we met he seemed relatively relaxed – for what appeared to be a Marine coping with a heightened use of the “Withdrawn” neurological character style.  However, once he began to trust me – after an all day fishing trip off the coast of San Diego, we explored what he called his consistent “just under the surface” suicidal / homicidal rage.

     The alarming aspect was that – in all the years of therapy, he had never been asked to notice his own inner experience of rage, notice the layers of how he organized the associated emotions or that, indeed his rage had complex associations to memory, meaning, and automatic impulses. This is simply wrong and beyond comprehension!

 

The Triage Perspective

 

New information offers the potential to adapt our ways of viewing,

managing and treating Operational Stress and PTSD.

 

      The garden environment and its many activities are unquestionably grounding and therapeutic. However, the proposed Common Ground therapeutic garden’s potential and effectiveness is enhanced with therapeutic principals and methods currently successful in Operation Recovery’s Garden Program in Oceanside, CA. The Triage Method of Emotional Therapy (TMET) frames the relational principals and methods utilized. TMET is an adaptation of The Hakomi Method of Body-Centered Psychotherapy, where awareness is always related to and from a loving, heart-centered perspective – one of acceptance and respect.

      The Triage Method is a relational method, which utilizes an attunement to existing temperament, attachment and intrapersonal neuro-radiance theories, and empiric neurological findings.

 

Key mentors include:

Dr. Jaak Panksepp

            Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychobiology at Bowling      Green State University (Primal Neuro-Mechanisms motivating behavior).

 

Dr. Stephen W. Porges

            Professor of Psychiatry and Co-director of the Brain Body Center at the        University of Illinois at Chicago (The Polyvagal Neuro-system Theory).

 

Dr. Bessel A. Van Der Kolk

            Clinical Implications of Neuroscience Research in PTSD, New York            Academy of     Sciences, 1071: 277-293 (2006). Boston University School of Medicine, The Trauma Center, Brookline, MA.

 

Dr. Marco Iacoboni

            Neuroscientist at David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles.

            Pioneer in brain imaging studies of the human mirror neuron system.

 

      Of primary importance in Triage is Dr. Jaak Panksepp’s Affective Neuroscience. His research is deeply rooted in psychophysiology and behavioral biology – including behavioral genetics. His work offers the conclusion that survival mechanisms or core neuroprocesses, based in the primitive neuro-structures of the human body, generate affective expression or primitive affect from the Basal Ganglia, the reptilian “old school” area of the brain.

     Dr. Panksepp’s research suggests these mechanisms have ultimate control over the body’s physical affective expression because they potentially frame all behavior with genetic dictation. And that stress, especially extreme stress of combat and long-deployment, activates these survival mechanisms in extreme ways.

     Fear, anger, panic, and to seek have been empirically identified as the primary core processes by Dr. Panksepp’s research and that of others. It appears that the symptoms of PTSD are motivated by at least one of these four core neuroprocesses. Triage often reveals PTSD symptoms to be a complicated blend of two or more.

     The supreme dictate of survival is the incentive for these core processes to be inherently continuous, systematic and efficient. They represent the body’s core organizational structure, which Panksepp suggests, provides the information motivating other brain activity and ultimately behavior.

     This is one foundation for the relational and information gathering aspects of The Triage Method. By noticing which mechanism or combination of them a Marine is utilizing to manage experience in the moment, choices can be made to deconstruct the automatic structure of affect – offering the potential to experience a change in the behavioral outcome.

 

       With respect due Dr. Panksepp, it may be valuable to add  Justice as a 5th mechanism.  Justice, or “making things right” seems to innately permeate all cultures and is an especially obvious concern in trauma. Genetic neuroscientists may add a whole range of other innate mechanisms. However, these are the mechanisms supported with the greatest amount of research.

       My experience working with OIF/OEF veterans suggests that they (as we all do to different degrees and intensity) – in trying to regulate to their post-war environment, migrate between and within these five with greater intensity and with out much relief.  Unfortunately, relief is the antidote! And, successful relief comes – in part, by experientially understanding these mechanisms.

     In a very short mater of time, this Marine had – through his developing trust, began to notice and differentiate when he migrated through the various innate mechanisms described by Panksepp.  He did however, continue to struggle with the underlying tension of not understanding “Why!” – still not able to make sense of it. Until, I wrote the word justice on an old fishing lure carton and slipped it to him. He immediately said, “That’s it, that’s freeking it!”  I quietly, made an observation, “Pisses you off”, without emphasis or elicitation – as in a question. Triage is not about questioning. Instead it is about guiding awareness.

     He got quite and began to reflect on a lifetime of struggling with justice.  It was his dominate drive. It was what drove him to be a Marine. And, it was what was driving his rage.

     How was he going to make sense of how his team died and he was air lifted from duty moments before they were to roll towards Fallujah in 04’.  Or, that an immediate family member had become seriously ill while he was in recovery. Or that his girlfriend left him after repeated warnings about his abuse on her.  Where was the justice in all that had happened?

     It appeared that this decent – although shy (withdrawn), kid from middle America had had his natural bias (sensitivity) to justice amplified – not only by his experience in war, but by his post-war experiences.  And, as research suggests, once these impulsive mechanisms or neuro-systems are amplified during traumatic experience they remain amplified.  Having an opportunity to learn and experience his inner processes in relation to these systems offers an opening to regain control of their intensity and persistence.

     This Marine, in his final days of assignment to the Wounded Warrior Battalion West, finally found relief and an understanding. Word has it he is now a Marine veteran and ready to go fishing again – only this time in a different state of mind.

     In general, Panksepp concludes the core affect originating in the raw nerve structure of the body and brain-stem are used to stimulate the limbic area or mid-brain to regulate, regulate and adapt that affect as a means of surviving in a social context without neurologic overwhelm. This regulation process produces the felt sense of experience known as emotion. The more evolved outer layer of the brain, the neo-cortex, utilizes core affect and mid-brain emotion to generate cognitive function, declarative knowledge, reasoning and logical thought, which are advanced coping, managing and surviving processes utilized when risk is low.

     All parts of the brain initiate muscle action. However, the instinctual part has supreme control because it has genetic dictate with the ability to shut off or restrict higher brain function under extreme stress. Also, because it is integrated with all areas of the brain and environment the base brain’s creation of affective information is paramount in the creation of moment-by-moment behavior. It is always on-line.

     When the underlying processes influencing felt emotion and cognition are intensively activated, especially by extreme psychophysiological stress, their structure of influence may become disorganized demanding them to remain persistently on or off. This persistent override thwarts thoughtful emotional action and appears to be related to some of the disorders referred to in PTSD. Rage or panic affect, override emotional action. Freezing or taking flight limits the ability to seek. Understanding this process with the experience of self-regulating affect reduces the possibility of system overwhelm and allows emotions and thoughts to regain their status of control.

      Attention to the possibility that these systems may be exerting inappropriate influence is the primary focus for change provided by TMET.  As the affective signal from these mechanisms increases the body and brain experience increased stress, the more stress the closer to the Window of Tolerance the more survival impulses ignite.

      For example: A Marine with two Iraq tours was diagnosed with PTSD at discharge. His horrendous stories of combat were punctuated with hopelessness for a marriage and a desire to live. He had come to the garden seeking something. Turning attention to the seeking allowed its affect to settle (be regulated) and his whole coping system was discovered.

     In theory, separation from the Marines had created increased panic (Who am I now?), to cope with the intense panic affect his SCC directed an increase in rage affect (I’ll control this), which was mistakenly directed at a mush safer object, his wife. The shame of beating her (Who am I, a monster?) and her leaving him reignited the panic affect. To cope the SCC shut those affect motivators down and collapsed him with flight motivating affect. Here, without available rational thought or emotion, it manifested into a flight to suicide ideation.

      Once he had the opportunity to notice and feel this unique process loop in real time the overwhelming affect gave way to increased emotions and rational thought. He found a balance when risk declined and more systems were allowed to participate in his life-experience.

 

      Survival is assured by nerve circuits systematically informed, organized and motivated by 3-levels of brain function in direct relation to perceived degrees of risk.

 

Base-Brain     The Supreme Command Center, (SCC). The instinctual blueprint part uses a core neuro-blueprint to automatically seek/find, panic/connect, flight/freeze, fight/rage or be just/make sense as survival risk escalates. This area of the brain receives and regulates continuous affective information from the sensory systems of the body and filters them to the Mid-Brain and through some systems, directly to the Executive-Brain.

 

Mid-Brain      The regulating Mid-Brain defines and sets the stage for memory by utilizing Base-Brain’s affect to generate emotion as a means to communicate and cope in relationship – to self and social environment, in relation to associated risk.

 

Executive       The thinking, planning, learning (memory) and explaining part of the brain. Constructs concepts of reality from base affect and emotions utilizing thoughts and words to communicate, manipulate, cope and survive within an ultra low risk, stable environment.

 

 

      Affective, Biological and Anthropological Neuroscience all offer new understandings of how our nervous systems organize, express and resolve experience. They also honor that individual nervous systems and family and group relational systems organize in much the same way.

      Within these developments there is evidence supporting methods of prevention, mitigation and resolution of Operational Stress and PTSD. The Triage Method, as an on the ground application of the Hakomi Method, utilizes these developments with respect for the participant’s potential to heal themselves. Yoga, Meditation, EMDR, and Virtual Iraq seem to be affecting core neuroprocesses, only in a more externally directed way.

      Perhaps the most important finding relevant to the Marine is how the base brain’s neuro-mechanisms produce mental chaos through instinctual processes when internal impulses deviate from the code of a warrior. The dissonance between the way a Marine expects to respond and the actual real time reaction produces stress. This stress represents the emotional/mental disorder in the brain’s function and validates the SCC function.

      For example: A Marine, who initially knows he is a kind person and a Marine trained to act with morals and integrity in the act of war, may experience something in the line of duty that cannot be reconciled. Perhaps he turns toward incoming fire, trained to make fast decisions to reduce the threat, but momentarily freezes, not able to pull the trigger until it is too late. Or, he snipes a 12-year old at 300 yards. How does his brain make sense of the experience and the difference between instinct and training? Any lasting incongruence holds potential for stress and increased Operational Risk.

       Science seems to have the mechanism of this process in PTSD understood. It is a disorder in the primitive brain. When the Basel Ganglia’s generation of affective signals to higher brain function is startled into activation or activated for extended periods of time its instinctual structure is reorganized and remains vigilant though not necessarily ordered in its capacity. The Department of Defense’s funding to research experimental drugs this summer, designed to alter the chemical function of the base brain’s genetic dictate to freeze or flight, is based on these findings. It is an attempt to cure or limit the structure of PTSD development.

      An artificial adjustment to this process may have interesting ramifications because these neuro-mechanisms are motivated by genetic dictate for a reason. Survival. Seeking shelter, panicking during separation, raging at intrusion and freezing or flight from threat may serve Marines in combat even when they are trained to act otherwise.

      In another example: A pattern of SCC directed action was discovered when a Marine’s curiosity was aroused during a garden experience. He made the statement, “This is weird. I was just remembering a situation I don’t understand. I don’t think I was ever afraid, while it was happening, but I was doing some odd things.”

      As a Warrant Officer he was leading a crew outside the wire to gather concrete barriers to cover their new base camp’s flank. Standing in open field, under threat of snipers, he calmly directed the loading and transfer of the first barrier with heavy equipment. As his crew moved into the distance, toward base camp, he found himself standing alone next to a pile of barriers. He said he wasn’t afraid. He knew with his training and physical resources he could handle what might come at him. But, he still found himself diving and freezing behind a barrier until his crew returned.

      In theory, his panic mechanism motivated the anxiety of separation. It increased to a point where his SCC coped with it by directing the activation of muscles to seek shelter, then freeze behind a remaining barrier. Once the crew and heavy equipment returned he was suddenly out from cover and calmly directing the next load. He felt safe and calm again.

      When the last barrier began to move off with his crew, he surprisingly found himself running and zigzagging to keep up and behind the last barrier as it dangled from the equipment. He described this as odd because his training and beliefs were telling him he wasn’t afraid and that he should stand and be alert to threat. His SCC was overriding his training and the result was disconcerting.

      If the natural instincts directing his actions were to have been medically altered, could the outcome have changed? Would he have scurried behind the barriers when alone or stood in the open waiting? Would he have run behind the last barrier or walked along side? Did he experience himself as scared and weak or as a warrior?

      More importantly, would the difference between his experience and mental expectations have created Operational Risk?

      An article in Semper Fidelis: A Psychological Study of Heroic Bravery, describes research conducted by Terence W. Barrett, PhD, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University. Dr. Barrett found that 292 U.S. Marines who acted heroically brave and earned the nation’s Medal of Honor shared forty-one behavioral tendencies or characteristics.

      Each of these characteristics of bravery appears to be motivated by the instinct to seek. Seek challenge, adventure, risk, social unity, approval and more. It is possible that the instinctual mechanism to seek was genetically dominant for these Marines. There may have been a predisposition to shut down fear and seek. Had they understood this, those that subsequently died in combat may have survived longer by augmenting their heroic impulse.

      The capacity to distinguish honorable acts from those that may lead to unnecessary death or be felt as shameful and lead to serious psychological damage is important. Understanding the neuro-mechanisms motivating these seemingly automatic actions may be vital to a Marine’s capacity to optimize self-regulation and change results – of actions and stress.

      The officer in the example found considerable relief as he came to understand how these instinctual processes work. It allowed him to resolve and integrate an experience where previously he had been bothered by irrational and conflicting thoughts. Had his tendency to seek overridden his other impulses would he have stood in the open and unknowingly risk unnecessary death?

      By understanding and experiencing these neuro-mechanisms in action, in the garden, the Marine learned techniques of how to participate in his own neurological processes, to make sense of both honorable and potentially shameful action, and minimize the potential for any resulting mental chaos. This training could be paramount to the mitigation of the long-term effects from stress, which can fester into PTSD.

      Other Marines have successfully embodied the art of self-attunement and emotional regulation through participation in an educational training process in Operation Recovery’s garden. It is expected that this training will enhance their capacity to maintain situational awareness under extreme conditions and ensure the Marine makes appropriate decisions with awareness rather than instinctual inclination or habit.

 

People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) go through the day filled with exaggerated worry and tension, even though there is little or nothing to provoke it. They anticipate disaster and are overly concerned about health issues, money, family problems, or difficulties at work.
People with GAD cannot get rid of their concerns, even though they usually realize that their anxiety is more intense than the situation warrants. They are unable relax, startle easily and have difficulty concentrating.
Physical symptoms that often accompany the anxiety include, but are not limited to, fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, trembling, twitching, irritability, sweating, nausea, lightheadedness, having to go to the bathroom frequently, feeling out of breath and hot flashes.
GAD affects about 6.8 million Americans and about twice as many women as men. It comes on gradually and can begin across the life cycle, though the risk is highest between childhood and middle age.
It is diagnosed when someone spends at least 6 months worrying excessively about a number of everyday problems. There is evidence that genes play a modest role in GAD.
Other anxiety disorders, depression, or substance abuse often accompany GAD, which rarely occurs alone. It is commonly treated with medication an/or cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are typically treated with medication, specific types of psychotherapy, or both. Treatment choices depend on the problem and the persons preference.
Before treatment, a doctor must conduct a careful diagnostic evaluation to determine whether the symptoms are caused by an anxiety disorder or a physical problem. If an anxiety disorder is diagnosed, the type of disorder must be identified, as well as any coexisting conditions, such as depression or substance abuse.
Sometimes alcoholism, depression or other coexisting conditions have such a strong effect on the individual that treating the anxiety disorder must wait until the coexisting conditions are brought under control.
People with anxiety disorders who have already received treatment should tell their current doctor about that treatment.
If they received medication, they should tell their doctor what medication was used, what the dosage was at the beginning of treatment, whether it was ever increased or decreased, what side effects occurred and whether the treatment helped them significantly. If they received psychotherapy, they should describe the type of therapy, how often they attended sessions and how much the therapy helped.
Often people believe that they have failed at treatment or that the treatment did not work for them when, in fact, it was not given for an adequate length of time or was administered incorrectly. Sometimes people must try several different treatments or combinations before they find the one that works for them.
Medications
Medication will not cure anxiety disorders, but it can keep them under control while the person receives psychotherapy, often from a psychologist. The principal medications used to treat anxiety disorders are antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and beta-blockers which control some of the physical symptoms.
With proper treatment, many people with anxiety disorders can lead normal, fulfilling lives.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants were developed to treat depression but are also effective for anxiety disorders. Although these medications begin to alter brain chemistry after the very first dose, their full effect requires about 4 to 6 weeks before symptoms start to fade. It is important to continue taking these medications long enough to let them work.
SSRIs
Some of the newest antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. SSRIs alter the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, which, like other neurotransmitters, helps brain cells communicate with one another.
Fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro), paroxetine (Paxil) and citalopram (Celexa) are some of the SSRIs commonly prescribed for panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, and social phobia. These drugs are also used to treat panic disorder when it occurs in combination with OCD, social phobia or depression.
Venlafaxine (Effexor), a drug closely related to the SSRIs, is also used to treat GAD. These medications are started at low doses and gradually increased until they cause side effects or produce a beneficial effect.
SSRIs have fewer side effects than older antidepressants, but they sometimes produce slight nausea or jitters when people first start to take them. These symptoms fade with time, however.
Some people also experience sexual dysfunction with SSRIs, which may be helped by adjusting the dosage or switching to another medication.
Tricyclics
Tricyclics are older than SSRIs and work as well as SSRIs for anxiety disorders other than OCD. They are also started at low doses that are gradually increased.
They sometimes cause dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth and weight gain, which can usually be corrected by changing the dosage or switching to another medication.
Tricyclics include imipramine (Tofranil), which is prescribed for panic disorder and GAD and clomipramine (Anafranil), which is the only tricyclic antidepressant useful for treating OCD.
MAOIs
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are the oldest class of antidepressant medications and the ones most commonly prescribed for anxiety are phenelzine (Nardil), followed by tranylcypromine (Parnate) and isocarboxazid (Marplan), which are useful in treating panic disorder and social phobia.
People who take MAOIs cannot eat a variety of foods and beverages (including cheese and red wine) that contain tyramine or take certain medications, including some types of birth control pills, pain relievers (such as Advil, Motrin and Tylenol, cold and allergy medications and herbal supplements; these substances can interact with MAOIs to cause dangerous increases in blood pressure.
MAOIs can also react with SSRIs to produce a serious condition called serotonin syndrome, which can cause confusion, hallucinations, increased sweating, muscle stiffness, seizures, changes in blood pressure or heart rhythm and other potentially life-threatening conditions.
Anti-Anxiety Drugs
High-potency benzodiazepines combat anxiety and have few side effects other than drowsiness. Because people can develop a tolerance to them and may need higher and higher doses to get the same effect, benzodiazepines are generally prescribed for short periods of time, especially for people who have abused drugs or alcohol or who become dependent on medication easily.
One exception to this rule, however, is people with panic disorder, who can take benzodiazepines for up to a year without harm. Clonazepam (Klonopin) is used for social phobia and GAD, lorazepam (Ativan) is helpful for panic disorder and alprazolam (Xanax) is useful for both panic disorder and GAD.
Some people experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking benzodiazepines abruptly instead of tapering off, and anxiety can return once the medication is stopped. These potential problems have led some physicians to shy away from using these drugs or to use them in inadequate doses.
Buspirone (Buspar), an azapirone, is a newer anti-anxiety medication used to treat GAD. Possible side effects include dizziness, headaches, and nausea. Unlike benzodiazepines, buspirone must be taken consistently for at least 2 weeks to achieve an anti-anxiety effect.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy involves talking with a trained mental health professional, such as a psychologist, social worker, or counselor, to discover what caused an anxiety disorder and how to deal with its symptoms.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is very useful in treating anxiety disorders. The cognitive part helps people change the thinking patterns that support their fears and the behavioral part helps people change the way they react to anxiety-provoking situations.
For example, CBT can help people with panic disorder learn that their panic attacks are not really heart attacks and help people with social phobia learn how to overcome the belief that others are always watching and judging them. When people are ready to confront their fears, they are shown how to use exposure techniques to desensitize themselves to situations that trigger their anxieties.
People with OCD who fear dirt and germs are encouraged to get their hands dirty and wait increasing amounts of time before washing them. The therapist helps the person cope with the anxiety that waiting produces; after the exercise has been repeated a number of times, the anxiety diminishes.
People with social phobia may be encouraged to spend time in feared social situations without giving in to the temptation to flee and to make small social blunders and observe how people respond to them. Since the response is usually far less harsh than the person fears, these anxieties are lessened.
People with PTSD may be supported through recalling their traumatic event in a safe situation, which helps reduce the fear it produces. CBT therapists also teach deep breathing and other types of exercises to relieve anxiety and encourage relaxation.
Exposure-based behavioral therapy has been used for many years to treat specific phobias. The person gradually encounters the object or situation that is feared, perhaps at first only through pictures or tapes, then later face-to-face.
Group therapy is particularly effective for social phobia. Often homework is assigned for participants to complete between sessions.
There is some evidence that the benefits of CBT last longer than those of medication for people with panic disorder, and the same may be true for OCD, PTSD, and social phobia. If a disorder recurs at a later date, the same therapy can be used to treat it successfully a second time.
Medication can be combined with psychotherapy for specific anxiety disorders, and this is the best treatment approach for many people.
Taking Medications
Before taking medication for an anxiety disorder:
1. Ask your doctor to tell you about the effects and side effects of the drug.
2. Tell your doctor about any alternative therapies or over-the-counter medications you are using.
3. Ask your doctor when and how the medication should be stopped. Some drugs cannot be stopped abruptly but must be tapered off slowly under a doctors supervision.
4. Work with your doctor to determine which medication is right for you and what dosage is best.
5. Be aware that some medications are effective only if they are taken regularly and that symptoms may recur if the medication is stopped.
How to Get Help for Anxiety Disorders
If you think you have an anxiety disorder, the first person you should see is a psychologist, psychiatrist or your family doctor. It must be determined whether the symptoms that alarm you are due to an anxiety disorder, another medical condition or both.
If an anxiety disorder is diagnosed, the next step is usually contracting with a mental health professional to provide treatment. The practitioners who are most helpful with anxiety disorders are psychologists and therapists who have training in cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or behavioral therapy and who are open to using medication if it is needed.
You should feel comfortable talking with the mental health professional you choose. If you do not, you should seek help elsewhere.
Once you find a mental health professional with whom you are comfortable, the two of you should work as a team and make a plan to treat your anxiety disorder.
Remember that once you start on medication, it is important not to stop taking it abruptly.
Certain drugs must be tapered off under the supervision of a doctor or bad reactions can occur. Make sure you talk to the doctor who prescribed your medication before you stop taking it.
If you are having trouble with side effects, it is possible that they can be eliminated by adjusting how much medication you take and when you take it.
Most insurance plans, including health maintenance organizations (HMOs), will cover treatment for anxiety disorders. Check with your insurance company and find out.
If you do not have insurance, the Health and Human Services division of your county government may offer mental health care at a public mental health center that charges people according to how much they are able to pay. If you are on public assistance, you may be able to get care through your state Medicaid plan.
Ways to Make Treatment More Effective
Many people with anxiety disorders benefit from joining a self-help or support group and sharing their problems and achievements with others. Internet chat rooms can also be useful in this regard, but any advice received over the Internet should be used with caution, as Internet acquaintances have usually never seen each other and false identities are common.
Talking with a trusted friend or member of the clergy can also provide support, but it is not a substitute for care from a psychologist or other mental health professional. Stress management techniques and meditation can help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and may enhance the effects of their therapy.
There is preliminary evidence that aerobic exercise may have a calming effect. Since caffeine, certain illicit drugs and even some over-the-counter cold medications can aggravate anxiety disorders, they should be avoided.
Check with your physician or pharmacist before taking any additional medications. Also, the family is very important in ones recovery. Ideally, the family should be supportive and should not trivialize the disorder or demand improvement without treatment.

If you are 1 out of the millions of people experiencing social anxiety and you are feeling really helpless feeling there is nobody to help you, then you are wrong. There are many more people suffering from this disorder. You have a chance of being hit by social anxiety if you have a problem with extreme shyness.
A few things that make the social anxiety patient fearful and stressed are:
• Being teased or criticized
• Getting to meet new people
• Having all the attention
• Seeing people who work in authorities position (some important people like supervisor)
• Being watched while working on something
• Most of the social gatherings
• Having interpersonal relations, friendly or romantic
You might be having social anxiety if these symptoms apply to you and the way you feel being social. Don’t lose hope and think that you are the only person having this problem and no one will come forward to help you. There are quite a few types of successful social anxiety medicine available today.
Cognitive-behavior therapy is one of the leading successful types of social anxiety treatments available today. Basically, cognitive behavior works with the brain and how and what we think. Since how we feel seems to be the major part on social anxiety, this therapy is a really good way of treatment for social anxiety. It teaches us on new ways of thinking and how to behave in social places. Cognitive behavior is widely used and is being recommended by lots of psychologists and therapists.
Cognitive behavior therapy has a chance to produce some long term changes in our lives but only when used consistently and hence this cognitive behavior therapy has been very successful as a treatment for social anxiety. But this result can be obtained provided the patient has no such health issues as dementia, brain damage, Alzheimer’s disease which might contribute to social anxiety. This cognitive behavior therapy will tell upon many types of cognitive times in our lives, which helps with our beliefs and new thoughts that comes up in our brain.
Medication is another treatment for social anxiety which is most of the times recommended with cognitive behavior therapy. Anti-anxiety, anti-depressant drugs, beta-blockers are few types of medications for physical symptoms which are helpful for social anxiety. Though there might be a feeling on the 1st day of taking the anti-depressant, it takes a few weeks for the drugs to act on the brain and the body and produce an actual effect on you. Medication actually just helps to lessen the anxiety while undergoing the therapy and does not completely cure the social anxiety. Medication must not be taken in your treatment for social anxiety alongside with the therapy. The therapy can be availed as an individual or group therapy. Only a trained therapist can recommend what you need best based on the needs.

The actual treatment for this type of eating disorder must be oriented according to the severity of symptoms and the patient’s needs. The primer target of the therapy is to reestablish the physical health of the patient by helping him gain weight.

The patient must know the negative effects anorexia has upon his physical health and understand the importance of gaining weight. A complete eating schedule must be established with about 6 meals a day and the person must learn to adjust and increase weight. After obtaining a healthy physical status, improvement of the mental status of the patient can begin.

Very important as symptom of the disease, the psychological damages of the person making her have low self-esteem and poor self image can also be corrected by proper therapy. Every therapist has its own methods to talk about anorexia and solve its triggers that might be stress, fears or concerns. He will discuss with the patient all potential causes that may be related to anorexia. The relationship between patient and food must also be discussed during sessions, he must keep a diary of his interaction with food and learn to manage hunger or not be disgusted after eating. This is the cognitive method.

The Behavior related therapy is meant to reward the patient for the progresses and punish him for his temptations. The therapist must also identify and try to solve the problems in your emotional or social life that may trigger low self-esteem. Massages and relaxation can contribute to mental health improvement. Family therapy can make the members understand how their actions can negatively influence you and how their acting can help you get back to normal. When patients deny they suffer from an eating disorder, a subtitle family therapy can correct the main causes and increase the patient’s trust.

Group therapies lead by a specialist can help the patient reduce its sensation of isolation and give him the mental strength to fight anorexia. Persons with the same disorder can share their problems and find new ways of working them out. Support groups are lead by nutrition problem specialists or by volunteers which can help you find the most benefic group according to your own personal needs.

You will also need to be seen by a medical doctor that will determine the effects anorexia has on your body and teach you how to overpass the physical illness. He will closely monitor your vital signs, hydration level and electrolytes.

For more information about anorexia or even about pro anorexia please click this link http://www.anorexia-center.com/pro-anorexia.htm

COGNITIVE SCIENCE – NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

            Many people reading this article may not be familiar with the term ‘Cognitive Science’. But the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ may sound familiar, as its often heard term and its a booming research area. ‘Cognitive Science’ may be considered as opposite of ‘Artificial Intelligence’, as former deals with study of intelligence in human ,where as  later deals with intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it.

            Cognitive science, the term was coined by Christopeher Longuet – Higgins in 1973. It is an interdisciplinary field. The interdisciplines are Psychology, Neuro science, Linguistics, Philosophy of mind, Computer Science, Anthropology, Biology and Physics. The objective of Cognitive Science is to attain a complete understanding of the mind/brain and its processes.

            Attaining the complete understanding of the mind/brain is not possible by single level analysis.  As the field is highly interdisciplinary, research often draws research methods from different fields such as Psychology , Neuro Science , Computer Science etc., Any of the research methods on their own would not fully explain the process of brain. The relational study of the outcomes of the researches can give a clear picture of process of brain, but to its limits.

            Consider the problem of remembering a phone number and recalling it later. The problem can be approached in many ways. Two of the ways are explained here. One approach is to study the behavior through direct observation i.e. accuracy of the response could be measured when the phone number is recalled by the person. Another approach is to study the working of individual neurons while the person is recalling the phone number. Neither of the approach on their own would solve the problem completely, as discussed before.

            Cognitive Science has yielded a multitude of practical applications. The area of Robotics has seen the development of new and more sophisticated robots capable of executing complex tasks, thus making a positive economic impact. Advances in Neuro science often result in new treatments for disorders such as Autism, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive theories in Psychology have provided new therapies for the treatment of anxiety and depression. Cognitive insights have also created an impact in education having led to new methods in the teaching of reading, writing and other subjects.

           Thus concentrating more on this field of research can yield much better outcomes to improve our society both economically and psychologically.

             

When it comes to your overall mental health, stress is the biggest problem that most of face. It is also the biggest reason for many health problems that we face daily. Most of don’t even understand that stress can be the major cause of major health problems like heart problems. There are many different types of therapy that can be used to help with stress relief and music therapy is a relaxing and soothing one that can help with stress but also major and minor illnesses as well.

Music therapy services are available to adults and children with disabilities. Sessions are individually designed according to each person’s special needs. Using music and music activities, the music therapist works with each individual to address specific goals and objectives that are determined by the therapist.

With music therapy both individual and small group sessions will be conducted with regular progress evaluations. Music therapy can be done for clients with the following disabilities: Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Mental Retardation, Attention Deficit Disorder, Lowe’s Syndrome, and, Tourrette’s Syndrome.

Music Therapy may be commonly defined as the structured use of music and music activities geared toward helping individuals with disabilities meet both musical and non-musical goals. Music therapy goals may be based on behavioral, physical, cognitive, social, and emotional or language and communication. Music is a proven relaxation technique as well as a stimulant. Those who use music therapy often experience positive changes.

Music therapy is good for people of all ages may benefit from music therapy, from young children to elderly seniors. People with almost any disability have ability when it comes to music. Music Therapy clients participate through playing instruments, improvising and making up new songs, singing, or even just listening. The people that are involved in Music Therapy sessions may range from having a mild learning disability to having severe mental retardation.

Music therapists assess clients’ communication skills, social functioning, physical health and mobility, cognitive skills, and emotional well-being by how they respond to music. They design Music Therapy sessions for individuals according to their unique needs. In these tailored sessions, therapists use techniques such as music improvisation, receptive music listening, music performance on instruments and with the voice, and learning through music. That is just too cool. When you think of music in terms of therapy, it is very easy to forget how truly useful music can be. It really does sooth the savage beast within us if we let it.

AbstractFeminist Therapy focuses on empowering women and helping them discover how to break the stereotypes and molds of some traditional roles that women play that may be blocking their development and growth. This type of therapy grew out of influences of the women’s movement of the late 1960’s. Feminist therapy tends to be more focused on strengthening women in areas such as assertiveness, communication, relationships, and self esteem. One of the main goals of feminist therapists is to develop equal mutual relationships of caring and support. The therapist believes that her client is the only “expert” in her own issues and will help her develop the tools needed to reach her potential as a unique and valuable individual. There are six main tenets of feminist therapy theory with five main principles. It is important to realize that feminist therapy is not just for women but men can benefit as well. Furthermore, there is a notion in feminist therapy that “personal is political”. This notion means that personal experiences are embedded in political situations, contexts, and realities.Feminist TherapyFeminist psychology grew from the influences of the women’s movement of the 1960’s. This movement was a grassroots one; therefore, no one particular theorist can be named the originator of feminist therapy. Feminists tried to keep elements of other psychological theories that worked but attempted to get rid of sexist aspects of the theories. They then tried to explain some of the common experiences and difficulties associated with the social roles that women endure that may be blocking their growth and development. The focus is mainly on helping women in areas such as assertiveness, communication, self-esteem, and relationships. Feminist therapy also focuses on empowering women by helping them see the impact of gender issues. The aim of therapy is change rather then adjustment. It is important to acknowledge sex roles, minority status and socialization in society as possible sources or causes of psychological difficulties. A core concept is equality; therefore, the therapist is seen as equal in the relationship with an outside perspective who provides guidance and new information but the client is seen as having the power to create his or her own desired outcome in themselves and their lives. Reclaiming personal power is a key concept. A task of the therapist is to help individuals explore and understand what is causing dysfunction and unhappiness and then to help develop strategies to overcome these difficulties…Feminist therapy is not just suitable for women, men can benefit from this therapeutic process as well. Men also deal with social and gender role constraints such as the demands of strength, autonomy, and competition. In addition, they are limited by the notion that they should not express vulnerability, sensitivity, and empathy. Both men and women are exploited by a patriarchal society and limited culture and gender stereotypes. Men can benefit from therapy by working on these issues and by learning new skills to help them understand and explore issues involved with emotions, intimacy, and self-disclosure. There are four main philosophies of feminists with differing goals in therapy including socialist, radical, cultural, and liberal. First, socialist feminists emphasize the need for change in institutional and social relationships. Next, radical feminists focus on the need for change in gender relations and societal institutions. In addition, they strive to increase women’s self awareness in regards to her sexuality and her desires and views for having children. Subsequently, cultural feminists emphasize the importance of the recognition that women are devalued in society and how detrimental this is. Finally, liberal feminists focus on the individual and the biases these people face in regards to self awareness, self-respect, esteem, and equality. Many ideas and views held by these philosophies overlap and are integrated with the main focus on equality. There are four major approaches that are unique to feminist therapy which include consciousness-raising, social and gender role analysis, resocialization, and social activism. Consciousness-raising is sometimes held in small groups in a leaderless manner involving the discussion of women’s individual and shared experiences. Women in these groups do not have to feel that they are alone and they could listen and support others. These individuals examine how oppression and socialization contributes to personal distress and dysfunction and they talk about ways in which solutions for creating individual and social changes can be made. Consciousness-raising helps women feel more powerful to take steps against oppression by participating in social action. Social and gender role analysis involves the evaluation of the client’s psychological distress and methods of coping. First clients will learn about the impact and affects of social and cultural norms and expectations and how negatively these issues affect society. This helps the client become aware and identify his or her own experiences in regards to social and gender role norms. The therapist helps the individual become aware of both implicit and explicit sex roles that the client may have experienced over his or her lifetime. This helps the client explore possible origins of psychological distress. Together the therapist and the client come up with ways to implement change and gain self knowledge.Resocialization follows social and gender role analysis and involves reorganizing the client’s belief system. They learn to view things differently and they develop new coping skills and strategies. Methods are taught that increase self esteem, assertiveness, and self views. A main goal of resocialization is an overall increase in well being.Social activism is rather controversial and not practiced by all therapists. It is embedded in the notion that “personal is political”, which is one of the basic tenets of feminist therapy. This means that there are underlying roots of client’s problems that stem from society and politics. Feminist therapy should not only help the individual but it should help all individuals. Social activism may involve participation by both the therapist and the client. This can be accomplished by speaking out, organized protests, and letter writing campaigns. Feminists agree that social change is crucial and advantageous to the mental health of all individuals.According to Gerald Corey, feminist therapy is based on five interrelated principles:1.The personal is political which implements social change.2.The counseling relationship is egalitarian which encourages equality between the therapist and the client. The client should be aware that she has the power to change and define herself and the therapist is only a tool with new insight and information.3.Women’s experiences are honored and they should get in touch with their personal experiences and intuition.4.Definitions of distress and mental illness are reformulated involving the internal as well as external factors of distress. Pain and resistance are viewed as a positive confirmation of the desire to live and overcome distress rather than being viewed as weak.5.Feminist therapists use an integrated analysis of oppression which means that they understand that both men and women are subjected to oppression and stereotypes and that these oppressive experiences have a profound affect on beliefs and perceptions. These core principles set the basis for feminist therapeutic practice and it is important to acknowledge that these principles contain overlap and interrelated common ground. Additionally, Lenore Walker indicates that there are six tenets of feminist therapy theory:1.Egalitarian relationships: this equal relationship between client and therapist models for women personal responsibility and assertiveness in other relationships.2.Power: women are taught to gain and use power in relationships and the possible consequences of their actions.3.Enhancement of women’s strengths: so much of traditional therapy focused on a woman’s shortcomings and weaknesses that feminist therapists teach women to look for their own strengths and use them effectively.4.Non-pathology oriented and non-victim blaming: the medical model is rejected and women’s problems are seen as coping mechanisms and viewed in their social context.5.Education: women are taught to recognize their cognitions that are detrimental and encouraged to educate themselves for the benefit of all women.6.Acceptance and validation of feelings: feminist therapists value self-disclosure and attempt to remove the we-they barrier of traditional therapeutic relationships. Feminist therapy is beneficial and needed for several reasons. The main goal is change, not just change within the individual but change in society. Gender issues need to be addressed because they can cause psychological distress and shape unwanted behavior. Our lives are affected and influenced by the stigmas and stereotypes associated with these internal and environmental pressures which can affect one’s identity. Feminist therapy recognizes this and implements these concerns in practice. Furthermore, women live in a world dominated by males and masculine patterns of thought and behavior. Until recently, psychological studies of human behavior were almost always conducted by men and on men. The results of these studies were generalized to apply to women equally. The results are biased for several reasons including the fact that men and women are not the same. They have developed differently from early childhood and they tend to view the world in different ways. The media gives young children strong gender biased messages. Boys are supposed to be independent, self sufficient, dominant, aggressive, and successful. Girls are sweet, well behaved, passive, submissive, overemotional, and attractive. There is a conflicting problem here because the same traits that are considered appropriate for little girls are considered negative and inappropriate as mature adults. Males tend to view the world in terms of competition and power, while females look at aspects of the world through relationships and connections to others. Therefore, these studies and techniques may not represent women very well.Women’s natural gifts of being nurturing and caring do not hold much power and value in society according to our social norms. These views and norms prevent women from feeling a sense of strength and power. These characteristics should not be viewed as weaknesses yet society sees it this way. Women should be commended for all he roles that they play. It is hard to juggle a family with children and a career, then come home and do housework and errands. As society becomes more of a dual income earning community some of these issues may turn in a more positive direction. Men do not have it easy either. If a man were to stay home and raise the children and tend to the household needs, society may call him lazy or worthless. Feminist therapists recognize how these factors and they understand how much relationships, connections, and nurturance plays a huge role in individual’s lives. They consider sex bias in a male dominated society and they honor women’s experiences and instincts as being valid. Feminist therapists specifically address issues such as family and marriage relations, reproduction, career concerns, physical and sexual abuse, body image disorders, and self esteem. One of the most important concerns of a feminist therapist is the empowerment of women in today’s world. Bohan (1992) states six guidelines for feminist practitioners to follow:1.Therapists are knowledgeable concerning gender role socialization and the impact these standards have on what it means to be a woman or a man.2.Therapists are aware of the impact of the distribution of power within the family and power differentials between men and women in terms of decision making, child rearing, career options, and division of labor.3.Therapists understand the sexist context of the social system and its impacts on both the individual and the family. 4.Therapists are committed to promoting roles for both women and men that are not limited by cultural or gender stereotypes.5.Therapists acquire intervention skills that assist clients in their gender role journey.6.Therapists are committed to work toward the elimination of gender role bias as a source of pathology in all societal institutions.These principles are based on a gender fair ideology for counseling which may be applied to family therapists as well.  These principles also apply to both individual and group therapy. The fact that many principles of feminist therapy can be incorporated into other therapies is a strength because it can broaden the theoretical base of other models and therapies. Feminist therapy aims at enriching and enlightening everyone’s lives by hopefully encouraging social activism in a positive direction. There are some criticisms and limitations to feminist therapy. Some therapists may be too feminist and militant in their views there by persuading clients. No therapist should persuade nor tell someone the “right” way to look at things. The therapist’s task is to offer support and information to challenge the client to examine for herself which road to take. Another criticism is the biased stance that feminists take. They are not neutral. They are all for a definite change in society and they should take caution not to be too pushy with their views on clients. It is also important that clients take responsibility for actions and experiences and not just blame society. They can be aware of society’s impacts but they also need to fess up and not avoid taking personal responsibility. Another criticism is the fact that feminism originated and was developed by, middle class, white, heterosexual women. Other races and cultures were not involved. This has been brought to attention and feminists have become much more inclusive.In summary, feminist therapy is beneficial and advantageous to today’s society. The human race will continue to evolve and new theories will also evolve to meet the needs of our unsustainable, plastic society. Feminist therapists will continue to break down the hierarchy of power by therapeutic approaches and interventions with the overall remaining goal as empowerment of the client and social positive change and transformation.References1.Walker, Lenore E.A. (1990). A Feminist Therapist Views the Case. In Dorthy W. Cantor (Ed.), Women as Therapists, (pp. 78-79). New York: Spring Publishing Company.2.Hecklinger, Fred J. (2003). Training for Life: A Practical Guide to Career and Life Planning. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishers.  3.Bohan, Janis S. (1992). Replacing Women in Psychology: readings Toward a More Inclusive History, (pp. 88-99). Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishers.4.Swanson, Jane L. (1999). Career Theory and Practice: Learning Through Case Studies. Thousand oaks, CA: Sage Publications5.Benjafield, John G., (1996). A History of Psychology, (pp.321), Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon6.Corey, Gerald (2001). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy 6TH Edition, (pp. 341-375), Wadsworth: Brooks Cole, Thompson Learning.

Stress can affect every aspect of life in general. That is why it is essential that people learn a bit of stress management since the experience can sometimes be inevitable. A little bit of stress now and then can sometimes be helpful in that it keeps a person be conditioned to react when certain unexpected circumstances happen. But this is the type of stress that one can easily cope up with. On the other hand, experiencing too much stress can have adverse effects on the body.
There are many ways that people do to try and cope up with stress. One of the most common but certainly not the quickest means is by changing a person’s mindset. It has been known that how a person thinks greatly affects his behavior and actions. If a person always thinks negatively, behavior seems likely to follow the same way. And when a person’ s way of thinking and behavior is based on negativity, it is more likely that stress becomes an ever present companion in every aspect of life. In order to stop stress from becoming a damaging factor in one’s life, then one has to get rid of all the negativity in terms of behavior and thinking.
One way of trying to get rid of the negativity in one’s mindset is by trying to identify There is a form of stress therapy called cognitive restructuring which deals with identifying and changing a person’s faulty thinking and unrealistic beliefs. Cognitive distortions is another term used to refer to these faulty thinking and beliefs. By correcting these distortions, only then can one be able to change one’s way of thinking.
People make use of different cognitive distortions which can be associated with stress. These are faulty thinking and beliefs that lead people to behave or act in a negative way. And there are several cognitive distortions that are common problems in many people. One of them is overgeneralization.
Overgeneralization is a common cognitive distortion among many people. Some may not be aware of it, but a lot of people are always guilty of overgeneralizing. It can be considered as a normal reaction by some. But too much of it can lead one to stress.
It is normal for people to base judgments on past experiences. When a person has experienced a negative event, it then becomes a factor that one naturally tries to relate other succeeding negative events of the same kind. This is why most people tend to develop stereotypes. But then overgeneralizing tends to make people believe that when experiencing a certain situation, all the other similar situations in the future would result in the exact same way.
People overgeneralize by thinking that there would be no difference in terms of results to similar situations that happen in the past to ones that happen in the present or in the future. When one has an experience with a rude salesperson, an overgeneralizer would judge that all salespersons are also rude.
Another common distortion in most people that is corrected in stress management is the trait of always jumping into conclusions. There are many people who, when faced with a certain situation tend to jump into making conclusions of why certain events happen. This is usually made before any evidence has been taken to back up the conclusion. For every negative situation, people with this cognitive distortion often try to go straight into concluding in the negative.
This can become so bad that people easily accepts the conclusion, even to the point of ignoring signs and evidences that prove the contrary.